ICFM webinar 1.0, focusing on Flooding and COVID-19, was livestreamed on Thursday, May 28th. It provided relevant discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on flood management.

There is a risk of flooding in many countries around the world this year. It's a serious problem that could complicate the drastic measures countries are taking to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Significant flooding would add a “whole additional layer of challenge” to full-blown assault against the pandemic being implemented around the world. Community sandbagging will be more difficult when everyone is practicing social distancing and people are in self-isolation. The economic damage being caused by the virus has also destabilized people's jobs and financial welfare, limiting their ability to absorb unexpected costs from flooding. The risk of contamination from the virus means that many emergency shelters ​​​​​​can't open for people who are forced out of their flooded homes. This is an emergency manager's nightmare scenario: two potentially serious emergencies happening at once. The stage is set for what could be one of the most challenging flood seasons we have seen in a while.

Topics

• Doubled crises – Flooding in a time of epidemic
• Flood-risk projections in a multi-risk context
• Beware of catastrophic flood events with properties of Black Swan in the midst of COVID-19 spreading around world
• Lessons from the pandemic response for other crises

 

Distinguished Panelists

• Slobodan P. Simonovic, Water Resources Specialist, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, Western University, Canada: Doubled crises – Flooding in a time of epidemic
• Zbigniew Kundzewicz, Hydrologist, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China: Flood-risk projections in a multi-risk context
• Cheng Xiaotao, Flood Specialist, IWHR, China: Beware of catastrophic flood events with properties of Black Swan in the midst of COVID-19 spreading around world
• Nigel G. Wright, Flood Specialist, Nottingham Trent University, UK: Lessons from the pandemic response for other crises

 

 

Presentations can be accessed here:

• Prof. Simonovic
• Prof. Kundzewicz
• Prof. Cheng
• Prof. Wright

 

Moderator: Zhang Cheng, Chairperson of the Permanent ICFM Secretariat, IWHR.  
Technical support: Medcon Conference Service Platform (MEDCON)

538 participants attended the webinar from all over the world. Thank you for your interest and we hope that you will join our future online events and conferences.